But the droplets of water that appeared on the head coach’s glasses told the whole story.

The Red Devils were in celebration mode, and it wasn’t about to end until they returned to their suburban Buffalo campus.

Sparked by a stingy zone defense and clutch shot making, No. 4 Clarence knocked off No. 1 Jamestown, 47-42, in a Section VI Class AA basketball semifinal at McElrath Gymnasium.

The win vaults the Red Devils, who had lost twice to the Red Raiders during the regular season, into the title game against No. 2 Niagara Falls, a 77-33 winner over No. 3 Lockport in the other semifinal. That game is set for Friday night.

Jamestown’s Elijah Rojas (4) skies to the basket in front of Clarence’s Colin Hand (12) during Wednesday’s Section VI Class AA semifinal at McElrath Gymnasium. P-J photo by Valory S. Isaacson

Jamestown, meanwhile, ends its season, 14-3, and one game short of its goal, because Clarence (12-8) played better from start to finish.

“It wasn’t a fluke,” Ratka said.

In fact, the Red Devils didn’t allow a field goal until Red Raiders’ senior Elijah Rojas scored on a layup with 11 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Armed with a 14-4 lead at that point, Clarence extended it to 18-4 in the first 2¢minutes of the second quarter. And while the hosts rallied, cutting the deficit to 20-17 at halftime and 32-31 heading into the final period, they didn’t make enough shots.

“I was obviously disappointed with the way the game started,” Jamestown coach Ben Drake said. “It’s hard to spot a team that many points in the first quarter. I thought we did a good job battling back, and we had some good looks, but we just couldn’t put the ball in the basket the last couple minutes.”

Credit for that goes to the Red Devils.

They were in the zone.

Literally.

“I said we can’t be soft tonight,” Ratka said. ” … We’ve been playing well down the stretch, we came in believing we could win and we played a little bigger lineup maybe than usual, and it panned out for us.”

The fourth quarter was back and forth — Jamestown took the lead for the first time, 37-36, following a 3-pointer by sophomore Trey Drake, but Marshone Eggleston drilled a jumper from deep on Clarence’s next possession to put the Red Devils back in front. Rojas tied the game for the final time, 39-39, with 4:36 left, on a nifty feed from senior Simeon Leeper, but the Red Raiders didn’t score another field goal and connected on only 3 of 7 free throws the rest of the way.

Trailing 45-42, Jamestown did have a chance to tie the game on its final possession, but Trey Drake’s 3-point attempt from the corner with 6 seconds left was long, Clarence rebounded the miss, Colin Hand was fouled and he hit two free throws to put the game out of reach.

The celebration was on in the visitor’s locker room.

Next on the schedule for Ratka’s crew is a date at Niagara Falls.

“We’ll worry about that in about five hours,” Ratka said.

For Jamestown, it was a disappointing end to what was otherwise a strong season.

“We said from the beginning we were just so happy to be playing,” Coach Drake said. “I’m obviously disappointed with the loss, but at the same time I’m really happy that we were able to have a season and these guys were able to have a chance to compete and that we were here tonight.”

NOTES: Zach Ianello led the Red Devils with 12 points, JD Brooks added 11 and Scott Raymond chipped in with 10. … Leeper led the Red Raiders with 12 points — all in the second half — but they were undone by their 31% shooting (16 of 51) and their extremely slow start. … Jamestown had beaten Clarence, 62-48 and 75-56, during the regular season.

CLARENCE (47)

Ianello 5 0 12, Hand 1 3 5, Eggleston 2 0 5, White 2 0 4, Raymond 3 1 10, Brooks 5 0 11, Metzger 0 0 0. Totals 18 4 47.

JAMESTOWN (42)

Rojas 4 1 9, Drake 3 0 8, Leeper 4 1 12, Butera 2 2 6, Jones 0 0 0, Farmer 0 0 0, Maple 0 0 0. Totals 16 5 42.

3-point goals–Ianello 2, Eggleston, Raymond 3, Brooks, Drake 2, Leeper 3.

Clarence 14 6 12 15 — 47

Jamestown 4 13 14 11 — 42